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May 14, 2026
This week’s theme
Whose what?

This week’s words
cat's meow
patriarch's age
rake's progress
pig's whisper

pig's whisper
An illustration from the book The Tale of Pigling Bland, 1913
Art: Beatrix Potter

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pig’s whisper

PRONUNCIATION:
(pigz WIS-puhr)

MEANING:
noun:
1. A very short time.
2. A low or nearly inaudible whisper.

ETYMOLOGY:
Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1780.

NOTES:
It’s not clear how a pig’s whisper came to be associated with a very short time or a whisper. A pig is not known for whispering, though a grunt can be brief enough. A variant of today’s term is a pig’s whisker.

USAGE:
“For if your love knew you loved him in perpetuum, he would return and return in a pig’s whisper.”
Chanelle Benz; The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead; Ecco; 2017.

“I heard Ata informing Mummy, in a pig’s whisper, that plagiarism, too, was actionable.”
Hindu (Chennai, India); Jan 21, 2001.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence. -Hal Borland, author and journalist (14 May 1900-1978)

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